Undated courtesy photo of Mike Brue, left, with his half-brother, Scott Patrick. Mendota Heights police officer Scott Thomas Patrick, 47, was killed in the line of duty on Wednesday, July 30, 2014. Patrick was shot and killed while making a traffic stop Wednesday. Police arrested Brian George Fitch, Sr., 39, the suspect in Patrick’s death, after an intense eight-hour manhunt. Photo courtesy of Mike Brue.

On Friday night, Patrick attended his first Minnesota Twins game at Target Field. He went with his wife, Michelle, older brother Mike Brue and Brue’s girlfriend, Theresa Knox.

“I used to take him to Twins games as a kid, so this was good quality family time with him once again,” said Brue, who lives in Grand Forks, N.D. “We were able to sit and enjoy the company.

“We were very fortunate to get this … at the time having no idea what was to come.”

On Wednesday, his first day back to work as a Mendota Heights police officer, Patrick was shot and killed during a traffic stop in West St. Paul. With 19 years of service, he was the department’s most senior officer.

Patrick, 47, of Mendota Heights is survived by his wife of 26 years — they were high school sweethearts — and daughters Erin, 17, who graduated from Trinity School at River Ridge last spring, and Amy, 13, who will attend the private high school in Eagan as a freshman in September.

Brue described his brother as “genuine,” a family man who used his fun-loving personality to his advantage on the job.

“He was … what you saw is what you got,” he said. “He didn’t put on false airs. He got along with people. In part what made him a pretty decent street cop is that he could use humor to sort of break the ice, which would make people relax, especially if you’re just moving around the community or even in a traffic stop when he felt the time called for it.”

Patrick was born and raised on St. Paul’s West Side and graduated from Humboldt High School in 1985. He had a big family — 10 brothers and half-brothers.

“He was my little brother,” said Brue, a half-brother. “It was fun to have a little brother who was so full of life.

“We were blessed … he was a wonderful brother, a real friend and confidant for me personally and I’m still trying to digest what’s happening … and may be for a long time.”

As the brothers grew into adults, Patrick was the one who was sought out for advice.

“Scott became the wiser as adults,” Brue said. “Scott was a very practical, common-sense person. I think he might have even gotten frustrated with most of his brothers, including me, for sometimes having a lack of common sense.”

Away from his job, Patrick enjoyed being around his family and working on their lake home on Lake Osakis near Alexandria, Minn.

“He was pretty industrious, always had a project going,” Brue said. “He could make $10 seem like $100. He was clever and creative with the way he approached challenges and ideas, whether it was small things like building a deck or designing his own house.”

Patrick looked at law enforcement as a noble profession, his brother said.

“Scott really paid attention to the ethics and the responsibilities and did not take them lightly,” Brue said. “He really felt it was an honor to be a police officer and that people needed to approach it as such when they’re in the job.”

Patrick’s family members are trying to deal with his death in “their own way,” Brue said.

His visitation and funeral will be at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in West St. Paul. The days and times were to be released Friday.

“It’s pretty devastating,” Brue said. “It’s a nightmare. Coming out of it, there’s no way you can be prepared for something like this, even though it’s a job where people put their lives on the line and are thrown into the line of fire without even knowing what’s happening.”

Patrick knew the risks of his job — and also the rewards.

“He knew that the rewards for him on the job were so big,” Brue said, “and how they gave him so much personal satisfaction.”

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